商业报道:雅虎的未来

The future of Yahoo

With Microsoft walking away, Yahoo still has opportunities for other potential partnerships¹.

Hi, I'm Yi-Wyn Yen² with Fortune, and I’m here today with senior analyst³ Jeffery Lindsay of Stanford Bernstein. Why don't you start this off by telling us what's going on with Microsoft walking away?

Well, it came as something of a surprise on Saturday evening when, um… we heard that, um… basically Microsoft were not prepared to increase their offer above 33 dollars and the Yahoo management team, Jerry Yang and David Filo, were still sticking hard wanting 37 dollars for the stock, so the deal broke down and Microsoft walked away.

Now that Yahoo’s got the monkey off its back. What other options now?

Well, I think it, it at least initially⁴ has some breathing space. And, um, it… Many analysts⁵ including ourselves expect it that may announce a deal in the next, you know, days or weeks. Probably with Google, or possibly even with AOL, and, or Google. Google, it’s been rumored⁶ for some time that Yahoo might consider outsourcing its page search functionality to Google. And, it's well understood that Google can monetize page research advertising⁷ much better than Yahoo. Yahoo’s closed some of that gap, and not all of it, and so a very straightforward⁸ way for Yahoo to boost its cash flow and its profitability, is simply to have Google outsource some portion of this activity. So, people think that the test was really a precursor⁹ to see if the monetization improvement would be as big as was hoped. In both sides, both companies announced that the test had been successful and we understand it basically met all the criteria¹⁰ they were seeking.

But won't a No.1 and a No.2 player combined? Have all sorts of entire regulation problems?

Well, that will be one, you know, position that certainly Microsoft was taking at the beginning. And certainly it will give them a very high access to a very high portion of the page search business in America. But if you look at, you know, overall advertising, it’s only a tiny amount, and even you look at online advertising globally, including display, it's really only about 35% of the market. So it's not as if anyone was cornering particularly any major share of the market, but it is true that the two combined companies would have a certainly large percentage of the US page search business.

One last question, what's the next step for Microsoft?

For Microsoft, it's difficult. They will have to really check with my colleague Charlie DiBona, but he thinks that they're likely to pursue acquisitions of a bunch of small and interesting companies in order to rebuild the position in the internet airspace.

Thanks so much for meeting with us today, Jeffery.

My pleasure!

1 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

2 yen   

n. 日元；热望

参考例句：

• He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
• He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。

3 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

4 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 rumored   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.传闻( rumor的过去式和过去分词 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• It is rumored that he cheats on his wife. 据传他对他老婆不忠。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was rumored that the white officer had been a Swede. 传说那个白人军官是个瑞典人。 来自辞典例句

7 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

8 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

9 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。

10 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。